Summary
- America Ferrera's character in Dumb Money, Jenny Campbell, is based on real-life GameStop investors involved in the short squeeze, primarily LA-based nurse Kim Campbell.
- Jenny Campbell is a mix of multiple people and represents the online retail investors who followed Keith Gill's theories.
- The film Dumb Money alters and combines some of the characteristics of real-life investors to create fictional representations.
America Ferrera's character in Dumb Money is based on a few real-life investors in the unprecedented GameStop short squeeze that took place in 2020 and 2021. Ferrera, known for her performances in Ugly Betty, Superstore, and Barbie, portrays Jenny Campbell in Dumb Money, one of the many online retail investors and followers of Keith Gill. Gill, also known by his online alias Roaring Kitty, is the subject and protagonist of Craig Gillespie's film that centers on the remarkable David vs. Goliath story spearheaded by the Reddit investment community Wall Street Bets.
Ferrera's Jenny Campbell is one of several characters that were inspired by actual people but were altered and combined with characteristics of others involved in the GME short squeeze. Campbell is a hard-working first responder who comes across Gill's videos on social media and decides to personally invest in GameStop stocks based on Gill's theories. While Jenny Campbell is representative of some of the real-life GameStop investors, she is actually a mix of more than one person and, as a whole, is a somewhat fictional representation in Dumb Money, which is streaming now.
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America Ferrera's Dumb Money Character Is Based On Several Real-Life GameStop Investors
Jenny Campbell is partially based on Kim Campbell, a real-life nurse and GameStop retail investor who was chronicled in Ben Mezrich's book "The Antisocial Network". Mezrich notably wrote "The Accidental Billionaires" which was adapted into the 2010 film The Social Network. In reality, Kim Campbell is a nurse at the Davis Center of Psychiatric Medicine living in Los Angeles. Kim's investment in GameStop rose to as much as roughly $50,000 whereas Jenny's financial gains in Dumb Money soared to upwards of $500,000.
The differences between the real-life Kim Campbell and America Ferrera's Dumb Money character Jenny imply that there were other influences and inspirations involved in the creation of her character. The characters of college students Riri and Harmoney were also altered quite drastically from their real-life inspiration, a Duke University student who had made his GameStop investment based on a loan from his father. The key link between the retail investors in Dumb Money, despite not knowing each other in real life, is their mutual allegiance and "diamond hands" in riding out the unprecedented squeeze for months.
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What Happened To The Primary Investor Who Inspired Dumb Money's Jenny Campbell
By the end of Dumb Money, Jenny Campbell is depicted as still holding onto her initial investment but still being in financial debt. It appears that the incredible financial gains she might have made selling at one point are no longer realistic figures. Based on "The Antisocial Network", it's not as clear whether the actual Kim Campbell sold at some point or if she continued to hold stock in GameStop to this day. It's also unclear whether Gill eventually sold his shares after the events depicted in Dumb Money even after they were worth as much as $48 million at the peak of the short squeeze.
Dumb Money
3.5
Biography
Comedy
Drama
Based on the Novel "The Antisocial Network" by Ben Mezrich, Dumb Money is an upcoming film adaptation that explores the story of the GameStop short squeeze that confounded Wall Street. When a small group of investors and group of users from a Reddit subgroup called WallStreetBets find a loophole in the system, chaos ensues when they enact a short squeeze that sends one of the most powerful hedge funds scrambling for solutions to a chaotic time in Wall Street's history. The film has recently signed on the likes of Sebastian Stan and Seth Rogan to star in unannounced roles for the film and is expected to start production in late 2022.
- Release Date
- September 15, 2023
- Director
- Craig Gillespie
- Cast
- Paul Dano , Pete Davidson , America Ferrera , Nick Offerman , Anthony Ramos , Sebastian Stan , Shailene Woodley , Seth Rogen , Dane DeHaan , Myha’la Herrold , Talia Ryder , Clancy Brown , Kate Burton , Larry Owens , Olivia Thirlby , David Faber
- Runtime
- 104 Minutes
- Writers
- Lauren Schuker Blum , Rebecca Angelo , Ben Mezrich
- Producer
- Craig Gillespie, Aaron Ryder, Teddy Schwarzman
- Production Company
- Black Bear Pictures, Ryder Picture Company
- Studio(s)
- Columbia Pictures , Black Bear
- Distributor(s)
- Sony Pictures Releasing
